Full-Time RVing: 8 Tips for Getting Rid of Your STUFF

Recently, while waiting in the business’ reception area, I had a conversation with a young lady who was manning the desk and phones about our RV lifestyle. Guessing, she had to be in her mid to late 20’s, single, no kids and full of life and aspiration gathering from our conversation. She seemed genuinely interested in our lifestyle.

She was asking question after question of where’s, what’s and why’s. Of course, she really didn’t have to pull it out of us because we were so excited to share our experiences. Then the age old question surfaced…

“What did you do with all your CRAP?!”

She immediately stepped back for a minute and apologized for being upfront and crass especially being in a professional environment. I told her not to worry, the question comes up quite often.

So here’s what I told her…

After ordering our, ‘then’, Cyclone toyhauler, we made appointments with three local real estate brokers to see who we were going to hire to sell
our Kentucky home.

Next, we set out our projected timeline.

Now, this is where it gets a little squirrely. Even knowing we had much work to do, we were super eager to sell immediately. In our hearts and minds, we were prepared to get an offer in as little as two week…or so we thought…and…well, that didn’t work out the way we had envisioned. We certainly didn’t fully realize the full extent of work we had to do.

So, here’s what we did to get rid of our crap!

GIVE…KEEP…SELL…DONATE…TRASH

1) CONTACT FAMILY

The first thing we did was contacted our son and his future bride. We told him “Son, anything in the house is yours, what do you want? You just have to come and get it.” However, since they both had their own households set up already, there was very little they wanted. We were okay with that. They took a small U-Haul trailer of some small furniture items, all of his childhood memoirs and toys, etc.

2) JOIN SOCIAL MEDIA YARD SALES (Local Facebook Groups)

We joined a couple local yard sale Facebook pages. Since I had already stopped working outside the home, it was my job to get rid of what I could. So, I started listing small pieces of furniture, knick knacks, small kitchen appliances, bedding ensembles, etc. I can’t count how many times people would insultingly lowball my asking prices. I learned quickly that I had to ditch my attitude, put my emotion in check and seriously disconnect from this stuff because really, that’s all it was…STUFF.

Slowly, small things were getting sold and our little savings account was growing.

Oh, and about that…

If any of you decide go this route, we highly encourage thorough dialog with potential buyers regarding terms and agreed prices. We quickly learned to not haggle price on public forums. Any offers and negotiations were all done via private messages and email. Why? Because there were some who had no interest in buying that would just haggle down a price just for the sake of doing so. Also, getting it in writing more or less ‘sealed the deal’.

Once prices were agreed on, we made our online-handshakes and met in a public place. I, the seller, was the one who dictated where and what time we were to meet (i.e. police station, grocery store parking lot, fast food parking, etc.). I’d say 98% of the time, it worked flawlessly. I did have a couple who stood me up but that was a rarity.

3) SCHEDULE YARD SALES

We scheduled yard sales; about a month apart. Having been a military family for 30 years and we thought that our belongings were pruned down from all of our PCS’s however…

In the military, when PCS’ing, based on your rank, we had weight limits so each time we relocated we vied never go over that limit; otherwise, we’d have to pay the government huge amounts of money. That said, it was seven years since our last PCS so we got a little lax with our buying habits. Let’s just say I loved going shopping at TJMaxx, Hobby Lobby, Marshalls, Home Goods, etc. My bad habit was then punishing me to the point of tears.

Emotion started setting in; not necessarily saying goodbye to all of our stuff but HOW MUCH we really had. I was disappointed in myself for letting it get that far. Oh! And let’s not EVEN get to my craft studio… *sigh*…but we’ll get to that later.

Anyway, our first yard sale netted us about $1700 but holy moly, it didn’t even seem like we made a dent. We both said to each other, ‘we gotta have another yard sale next month’. The month came and gone…another $700 in the pot.

We were starting to see some progress, not only from our yard sales but also our social media yard sale groups. Our bank account was growing but sadly, not at the same as what we’ve spent. I just had to keep the ‘big picture’ in the back of my head.

OH, funny thing is we found out at our closing that the people who BOUGHT OUR HOUSE were at one of our yard sales! More later about that.

4) DISCONNECT FROM ‘ONCE WAS’

By the first month of our home being on the market (it was May), our home started looking like a feature home in House Beautiful magazine; everything perfectly staged without clutter. Not that our home was cluttered before, just that we removed everything personal and minimized wall hangings, coffee table books, fireplace mantle things, etc.

By this time, we were completely moved into our Toyhauler at the state campground only five miles down the road. We finally reached that important pinnacle of feeling ‘disconnected’ from our S&B (sticks and bricks home).

Our home became just a house and the stuff left in it just became someone else’s stuff.

However, then the hard part (for me at least), purging my craft studio!

I was a creator, craftsman, artist, scrapper, stamper, jewelry maker, draw-er, color-er, painter, glue-er, paper-folding maniac. I admit, I was very spoiled when tiocame to having every tool and craft item known to man. I had it all….as in…ALL of Hobby Lobby!!

In fact, in my craft studio, I had cabinets stuffed with rubber stamps, stamp pads, a crap-ton of scrapbook supplies and paper, acrylic paints of every color and embellishments of every size, shape and theme. Women envied me. It wasn’t until this time that I admitted that I was a compulsive craft supply hoarder-holic (I made that word up).

I can laugh about it now but not when it came time for me to sell it all. It was seriously overwhelming. I was served my punishment for my over-indulgence.

Anyways, I set up our finished basement like a miniature Hobby Lobby and Michaels; organizing by craft. It took me TWO FREAKING WEEKS to set up all ‘my shit’ (sorry, not sorry). When I had it all organized and set up, I had scheduled an indoor craft supply sale via local Facebook groups, friends, took out an ad in the local paper and posted flyers all over town.

At 7:00 in the morning of my sale, I literally had a line out to the street with ladies and their plastic-y shopping bags ready to fill them with my craft crap. I had a bit of an emotional moment because I saw some of my friends in there, but it was short lived. I had serious work to do. By the end of the first day, I sold a crap-ton but again, a very small dent (yes, I had a crap-ton of stuff!).

I scheduled another two weeks later. This one, I saw great progress. I had sold the bigger stuff (small furniture, printers, die-cutters, punches, tools, etc.). I also made deals too good to pass up. I cried inside. I was still a bit defiant.

Then, it came to the point that I no longer had time nor energy to have another sale so I contacted a friend who as a local Girl Scout leader and told her to bring her mini van…EMPTY! She came and we filled every inch of that mini van. She wrote me a letter showing donation for our taxes. I’m embarrassed to say, the written value was in the thousands of dollars. *heavy sigh*

After everything was gone, I sat on the floor of my empty craft studio and cried waterfalls. All the supplies that I made pretties from, memory albums and cute handmade gifts were gone…well, except a few big storage bins of things I couldn’t part with.

The room that I once created so many handmade cards and gifts on sleepless nights was now bare. The cabinets were empty, drawers were bare, countertops were cleared and spotless. No more ink stains, paint spatters or glue. It no longer had personality. It was like an empty hulled out school room on the first day of summer vacation.

This was probably THE hardest for me. I still reflect back anytime I’m in Hobby Lobby.

5) HOME SALE or RENTAL CONCERNS

By late August; we were growing impatient because our home hadn’t gone under contract yet. At the campground, we kept seeing big RV’s with out of state plates come and go. We kept asking ourselves, ‘when is it going to be our turn’ to go?

September came and went. At this point, we were extremely frustrated that our beautiful 5 bedroom 3 bath home in an amazing neighborhood was not budging; actually came to the point of becoming angry. Our ‘once was’ home was just a shell that was staged. Come to find out, our realtor was not working for ‘us’ so we fired her. She didn’t even argue because I think she knew were were onto her ‘other’ marketing strategies that took buyers away from our neighborhood.

After firing her, we took a breather and hired a new realtor out of Louisville two weeks later on recommendation from a friend in California who was a Real Estate Broker. A short 10 days after listing with him, we had a full-asking price offer with no contingencies.

We now were in the shits-about-to-get-real mode.

6) DONATE! DONATE! DONATE!

With less than a month left of home ownership, we emptied all of the closets and drawers of things we didn’t need or didn’t care to sell. We loaded up our dually with boxes and bags of clothes, shoes, books, households, etc. and took them to the local donation place. We asked for receipts for our donations.

Whew! We were so glad that was done. We finally felt like the end was finally near!

7) ESTATE SALE

Getting rid of the rest of our households and furniture was last on the list. We had a couple weeks to get rid of EVERYTHING. We had interviewed a couple of Estate Sale Marketers and damn if I wasn’t a blubbering mess after that.

I had nightmares of people I didn’t know pawing through all of our shit. We’ve seen it several times prior, driving around the locale seeing Estate Sales with lines of people spewing lowball offers. Admittedly, we were those same people years before but now, we were on the other side of the door.

I didn’t know why that bothered me so much but we kept the big picture in our minds…the one of our RV tucked in the woods near a river or near the beautiful Rocky Mountains.

The family who was buying our home contacted me asking if I could show her how to properly care for the water garden, measure rooms for area rugs and windows for curtains, and to get some decorating ideas, etc. I invited her over for coffee and pastries. (Something prompted me to say yes.)

As she and I sat in our just-renovated kitchen of granite countertops, mahogany cabinets with seed glass doors, beautiful lighting fixtures, and top-of-the-line stainless appliances, there was quiet. She looked around eyeing every nook and wall of the perfectly staged House Beautiful home she was moving into in two weeks.

She gazed around at the furniture, wall art, pretty pillows, area rugs, candle holders, etc. and muttered, ‘gosh, if only I could just move in’.

She told that she loved the way I decorated; that she really felt like it was ‘her home’. I was deeply humbled by her compliment. I jokingly muttered out of the side of my mouth, ‘well, you know, everything is for sale’.

She hastily asked, ‘well, how much for it all’?

I looked at her with raised eyebrows, jotted a price with a Sharpie on a paper napkin and slid it across the island counter. (Note: we had already had figured out how much we would have netted off an estate sale). She looked at it with her own raised eyebrows and tucked it into her purse. Not thinking about it anything further, we said our goodbyes and good lucks on our closing that was taking place in a couple weeks.

I kid you not, less than two hours later, I get a phone call from her again, “Lisa, just pack your toothbrushes and suitcases, we’ll buy it all!”

Now, for a minute, stand in my shoes. I just got this phone call that was a TOTAL game changer. I was in utter disbelief. I had to ask her to if she was serious. She was.

Our newly remodeled kitchen

Our family room and adjoining kitchen

Almost immediately after we ended our phone discussion, I fell to my knees and started bawling (a blubbering mess again). I was thanking God for this most amazing gift that relieved us of this final chapter before handing over the keys. I don’t think ANYONE could ever imagine the huge burden that was lifted from us. They wanted EVERYTHING, even all of the holiday decorations in the storage bins in the basement utility room and useless stuff up in the garage attic.

8) FINAL CHAPTER: SAYING GOODBYE

The day of our closing, we went over to our ‘once was’ home to do a once-over for cleanliness and to see if we missed anything. I placed my handmade gift baskets for their daughters on their beds we gifted to our friends and family who stayed in those same rooms.

All of the towels in each of the bathrooms were clean and hanging like those in a 5-star hotel with pretty soaps in the soap dishes.

CLOSING DAY

I put a bottle of cold bubbly and two champagne glasses in the empty refrigerator for the new owners. Cookies I baked in the oven the day prior for their daughters were placed on a plate covered with their names on it. I had even set up the coffee pot that all they had to do was push the button to make their coffee the next morning.

I wrote on another simple yellow stickie note by their two brand new coffee mugs…“WELCOME HOME!” (GOD, that chokes me up as I type that!)

By that time, I looked at the clock that once told us time for dinner or time to head for work. It was now time to head to the closing. I walked into each room taking one more look smoothing one last wrinkle on the already perfect bedspread.

We walked out of our home one last time. We let out big sighs of relief that this chapter of our lives had concluded. We turned our keys and pulled them out of the door one last time. As we walked to the truck, we each turned around to look at the turquoise door of ‘once was’ our light colored brick home and gazed for a quick moment at our perfectly-landscaped ‘House Beautiful’ feeling no regrets.

We felt complete. Our work was done. Our stuff was gone. That home was no longer ‘ours’.

Our beautiful Kentucky home…or ‘was’.

Now, years later, as we look back on this experience, we admit we’ve learned not only about this emotional process but also ourselves and each other. It was emotional in every sense. It’s certainly not for ‘everybody’ and it takes great patience and diligence to get through this.

Though it was painstaking, we kept the big picture in the back of your minds. We were finally those RVers who left the campground headed for our next destination.

It was finally OUR TURN!

Finally, the person whom I was waiting to talk arrived in the reception area. The young lady at the desk probably thought I was crazy telling her all of this…

or

…maybe not!? Maybe that was a nudge for her to go buy her own RV. I could see the wheels turning in her head.

7 Replies to “Full-Time RVing: 8 Tips for Getting Rid of Your STUFF”

That was so incredible that your home buyer also bought the furnishings! Makes things much simpler. We used the Let Go app quite a bit, and found buyers for everything we were getting rid of very quickly.

I am so very happy that I stumbled upon your blog and it absolutely floors me how much we have in common. My husband too retired as a Chief from the USCG back in 2013. (I wonder if we have ever crossed CG paths). I too have an overly stuffed craft room of my dreams. We too are making "the move" to full time RV'ing. And I am terrified and excited. And as I was reading your de-stash process of your craft/art studio, I started bawling my head off. As a matter of fact, I am crying right now as I write this to you. Stopping periodically because I can't see my keyboard and screen through my tears. OH…my beautiful, semi cluttered, overly stuffed and motherly-loved Art/Craft studio; also the same blue walls and white cabinets as yours. I think of the thousands and thousands of dollars I have spent over the years. My love of card making, stamping, scrapbooking, painting etc.. Everything art. I love it all. I know I have to downsize by 99%, but what do I chose to take and leave? Each item is like a child. How can I take one and leave the others? And NOW, the new Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks have just been released this year. Yep, I bought all 24 of them. They are definitely coming with me. They are my new favorite child.Anyhow, I feel as though everything directed me to your blog to help me deal with leaving my beautifully decorated home. My 2 little baby grand daughters (5 and 3 1/2). All the "STUFF" that has given me momentary pleasure followed by "too much stuff, a lot less money" stress.Anyhow, our target date of departure is for April 1st 2018. My husband has started blogging about it. Please visit LifeintheRightLane.com

And again, thank you so much for your blog. You didn't know it, but you were reaching out to me. I hope to come across you one day during our travels. THNAK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

We have a motorhome, and we have our stick built home too. Our intention, hope, is to keep both and travel/sit 6 months in the RV and 6 months at home. But, we have accumulated a ton of stuff, plus I’m the daughter and have my long passed away parents’ things which I’ll also have to figure out what to do with as well as our own stuff someday because who wants to leave this stuff to their kids — kids who have their own homes and stuff and don’t want our stuff even though it’s terrific stuff! Ha ha! I know, we’re all laughing at this situation today. Anyway, I loved every word and thought and could feel the emotions. I did cry right along with you at several spot. Wishing you the best!

Hi Mary, it IS indeed, an emotional event. I’d be lying if I said it was easy. It was HARD. One of the hardest things I’ve had to do. That’s coming from a military wife of 30 years who PCS’d over 10 times throughout Dan’s career. But I wanted to be honest about it so others (You) are prepared for what they’re/you’re going to face. Just take one day at a time. If it’s too much one day, close the door and do it another day. You’ll be fine. I’d love to hear where you are headed once you get it all done. Blessed thoughts to you and your family and hope your journey is going to happen SOON!

$10 OFF Your First Sticker Order!!!

Sign Up for Our Updates

Looking for something?

Amazon Outdoors

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Disclaimer because we have to

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by us. This blog may accept forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, or other forms of compensation. This blog abides by word of mouth marketing standards. We believe in honesty of relationship, opinion, and identity. The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. The owner(s) of this blog may be compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers’ own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.